Stories of Self Defense

[Video] Armed Mall Employee Stops Craigslist Robbery

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An armed mall employee in Stroudsburg, PA used his concealed handgun to stop a robbery that originated with a Craigslist transaction.

The owner of a cell phone used Craigslist to arrange the sale of his phone. He arranged to meet the potential buyer in front of a mall in the middle of the day.

Despite being an extremely public area, the buyer used a stun gun to attack the seller and took his phone.

During the robbery an employee who works at a store in the mall saw what was happening, drew his gun and attempted to intervene.

Once the gun was introduced into the situation the robber took off running and got into a waiting car.

At least one bystander criticized the employee’s actions, according to PA Home Page,

Some called the employee a hero. Others said he put people at risk. Shopper Victoria Goldstein of Tobyhanna said, “You’re in a mall full of people and what if the robber would’ve taken the gun from him and now he have the gun in the mall with everyone. It could have escalated and been a lot worse.”

The good Samaritan who intervened asked that his identity not be revealed as he fears he would lose his job if his employer knew he carried a gun at work.

This incident is the most common type of defensive gun use. That is, one in which no shots were fired and no one was hurt. Despite this being the most common type of defensive gun use, these incidents are often not included in statistics about defensive gun uses. Many of these statistics and studies focus solely on justifiable homicides.